From this Saturday to next I am on vacation, so I’ll be posting new material up until this Saturday, so I won’t have to think about writing or posting. Today’s entry is yet another episode of revealing Americans for Constitutional Action scores and their criterion.

When he was elected president in 1976, Jimmy Carter presented an opportunity for the Democratic Party to move away from the politics of McGovern and to have an appeal broad enough to keep the South. Indeed, Carter had been Georgia’s governor for four years and the voters of all states in the former Confederacy except Virginia cast a majority of votes for him. However, on balance Carter proved a liberal.

As you might expect, Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA) wasn’t a fan of President Carter. They are almost constantly against him on domestic issues…they oppose public funding of Congressional campaigns, support deregulation of oil prices, oppose raising the minimum wage, and oppose bailing out New York City. They were also against pay increases for government officials while the public struggled with high inflation. ACA was a bit less opposed to him on matters regarding foreign and military policy. They counted three votes regarding the Panama Canal: the Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty and the Implementation Treaty as well as a property protection amendment. Although the House had no direct vote on the Panama Canal as a treaty, they counted Rep. George Hansen’s (R-Idaho) amendment to block any foreign aid to Panama. ACA also stood against any foreign aid, direct or indirect, to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Uganda as well as against rescinding funding for B-1 Bombers. They sided with President Carter on supporting sales of jet fighters to Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, the development of the neutron bomb, and lifting an arms embargo on Turkey over the conflict between Greece and Turkey regarding Cyprus. On domestic policy, they sided with Carter on the Emergency Farm Bill and the 1977 version of the Consumer Co-op Bank. ACA opposed any funds to Uganda, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, including indirect funds.

On social issues, ACA counted votes on busing, racial quotas, and the scope of obscenity laws. Curiously, they only counted a House vote for consideration regarding the extension of the deadline of the Equal Rights Amendment. They also, as per their usual practice, included no votes on the subject of abortion.

The greatest point of interest was, for me, the counting of a vote for the Emergency Farm Bill, sponsored by Bob Dole (R-Kan.), as against the ACA position. Many conservatives voted for this, and many liberals voted against. It was the single vote in 1978 in which by ACA standards staunchly liberal Clifford Case (R-N.J.) and Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.) voted the conservative position and arch-conservative Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) voted liberal. The GOP at this time was still a profoundly ideologically diverse party as were the Democrats. Save for Reps. Bob Stump (D-Ariz.) and Larry McDonald (D-Ga.), no legislator got a 100% for the whole 95th Congress. Famous politicians with reputations as conservative such as Bob Dole (R-Kan.) (70% in 1977 and 58% in 1978) and Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) (59% in 1977 and 70% in 1978) are rather weak sauce by ACA standards, reinforcing ACA as being tough graders. Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) scores a 37% and a 29% in 1977 and 1978 respectively, while House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.) scores a 4% in 1977 and a 28% in 1978. The Democratic Party was a bit of a different animal in the time of the release of Star Wars. President Carter himself scores a 25% and an 11% for 1977 and 1978 in the House respectively and a 0% in the Senate 1977 ratings, while he gets a 27% in the Senate 1978 ratings. Carter is, for the most part, playing ball with liberals.

100%: 1977

House:

Bob Stump, D-Ariz.
Eldon Rudd, R-Ariz.
Bill Armstrong, R-Colo.
Larry McDonald, D-Ga.
Steve Symms, R-Idaho
George Hansen, R-Idaho
Jim Collins, R-Tex.

Senate:

Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz.
Jesse Helms, R-N.C.
Jake Garn, R-Utah

100%: 1978

House:

Bob Stump, D-Ariz.
William Ketchum, R-Calif.
Barry Goldwater Jr., R-Calif.
John Rousselot, R-Calif.
Delwin Clawson, R-Calif.
Robert Badham, R-Calif.
Richard Kelly, R-Fla.
Skip Bafalis, R-Fla.
Larry McDonald, D-Ga.
Phil Crane, R-Ill.
John Ashbrook, R-Ohio
Bill Archer, R-Tex.
Dave Satterfield Jr., D-Va.

Senate:

Harry Byrd Jr., I-Va.
William Scott, R-Va.

Below are a list of votes ACA used for their ratings as well as scoresheets.

KEY:

+ – Voted for the ACA position.

– – Voted against the ACA position.

+ – Paired or announced for the ACA position.

– – Paired or announced against the ACA position.

? – No opinion on the vote.